Light, Motion and Magic

An article in Stuart Elliott’s New York Times advertising column caught my eye this morning: Speaking to Women, With Firsthand Experience.

The Omnicom Group in New York, the largest advertising holding company, is forming the consultancy G23 to help marketers reach women. In the name, the ‘G’ stands for Group and the ‘23′ is for the pair of chromosomes that carries the sex difference between women and men. This new group is formed by senior women leaders at Omnicon agencies who hold positions in public relations, cultural anthropology, corporate identity, media services, behavioral planning and digital marketing.

Agencies and agency companies are increasing their efforts to help clients aim pitches at women. The work is parallel to efforts to improve life inside agencies for women and appoint more women to executive jobs.

The power of women in the marketplace is undisputed. Surveys indicate that female consumers in the United States buy or influence the buying of more than 75 percent of all goods.

But ad makers have long struggled to find the right ways to approach women, as evidenced by a remark made decades ago by an industry leader, David Ogilvy: “The consumer is not an idiot. She is your wife.”

As well as providing clients assets across brands and disciplines, G23 will also compile it’s own information. “One example is a study, conducted for G23 by the research companies Harris Interactive and Pacific Ethnography, that examines the economic behavior of women in 16 countries. The study, which cost more than $1 million, groups the women into eight “tribes” and compares them to other women rather than men.”

I say good for them, and it’s about time. After all that we know about women consumers from books like Marketing to Women by Marti Barletta, and compelling reasearch as done by EPM Communications with its yearly All About Women Consumers, advertisers are still struggling to understand how to effectively reach women. And as the article points out, marketing effectively to women is not limiting; it is advertising in “mixed company” and can be effective with men as well.

I wish G23 great success in improving the quality of marketing to women, and in their efforts to recruit more young women into the business to groom into powerful marketing voices for the future.

Tags:Advertising, G23, Omnicom Group, Stuart Elliot, women consumers

Anyone who knows me for any length of time knows that I love to read. From time to time I like to review good books I’ve read, both business books and otherwise. Today I’d like to urge you to read a beautiful and moving memoir, The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang, published by Coffee House Press.

This is the story of a Hmong family whose amazing journey goes from the war-torn jungles of Laos, to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand, and then to St. Paul, Minnesota. Written by the second daughter born to Chue Moua and Bee Yang, Kao Kalia writes about more than the family history; she writes about what it means to be Hmong. In an interview by Annie Choi, Kao Kalia says about the title of the book:

I was reading a series of short stories by Mavis Gallant. I was looking for a way into my work. I came across a short story called “The Latehomecomer.” She explained that the word was German and that it was used to described the Jews who had returned late from the internment camps, back to homes that were no longer so. I saw the relevance of it to my work immediately. My grandmother, who died at perhaps ninety-three years old (if the estimates are right) and perhaps older (if she had been right), would be the last one to return to her long-ago home. Her mother, her father, her brothers and sisters had all died long before. She always told me that when she died, she would be leaving me for those who loved her before me. She would be The Latehomecomer. So are the Hmong.

The Hmong have been searching for a home for a long time, since we left China, then the mountains of Laos and the camps of Thailand, for the planes to America and the rest of the world. If my citizenship papers are true, if indeed I am now a naturalized American, if my brothers and sisters, born in America, and so many of their friends are indeed American, then perhaps, at long last, we are home. It is a homecoming that has been a long time in the coming. So long, perhaps, that our visions have blurred, and although we are looking at it, we are no longer seeing it clearly: the reality of home. The Latehomecomer captures the desire to believe that we, human beings, find what we are looking for in the world, even if we can’t see it, or know it-even if it no longer looks as it had in our memories.

Not only is this a story of one Hmong family experience, it is a universal story of the homeless Hmong people, told with the original, compelling and haunting voice of Kao Kalia. She uses the English language, her language from age 6 when she moved to St. Paul, to convey the struggles, hopes, dreams and lore of her family and culture. Her writing is fluid, and she has a way of putting ideas and sentences together that convey a unique view of the world. Her inner narrative is woven seamlessly through the framework of the story, giving the reader a sense not only of what happened to her Hmong family - and many others- but what it means to seek peace after war, to seek security, to seek a home.

If you have any interest in knowing more about the proud and loving Hmong culture, if you have any interest in reading a moving and unique memoir, if you have any interest in reading a book by a talented new writer, you will want to read The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang.

Tags:Book review, Coffee House Press, Hmong, Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer

The Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy released a new report, High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited.

This study examines firms with significant revenue growth and expanding employment. These are termed “high-impact firms” to distinguish them from gazelles [firms with rapid revenue growth.] The research offers summary statistics helping to define the scope and characteristics of high-impact firms. The report sheds light on several previously unanswered questions, including: What are high-impact firms before they become high-impact firms? What happens after their high-impact phase?

Among the overall findings of the report:

High-impact firms are relatively old, rare and contribute to the majority of overall economic growth. On average, they are 25 years old, they represent between 2 and 3 percent of all firms, and they account for almost all of the private sector employment and revenue growth in the economy.

Here are some highlights:
• From 2002 to 2006 there were 376,605 high-impact firms in the United States.
• For the three firm-size categories analyzed, the average size of high-impact firms in the 1-19 size
category was 3 employees at the beginning of the period of analysis, increasing almost out of the size
category to 16; for the 20-499 firm-size class it was 65 increasing to 209; and for the over-500 size class,
it was 3,648 increasing to 8,041.
• High-impact firms exist in all industries. While some industries have a higher percentage of these firms, they are not limited to high-technology industries.
• High-impact firms exist in almost all regions, states, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and counties.
• In the four years after a high-impact firm undergoes its high-growth phase, only about 3 percent die.
Most remain in business and exhibit at least some growth.
• The data suggest that local economic development officials would benefit from recognizing the value of cultivating high-growth firms versus trying to increase entrepreneurship overall or trying to attract relocating companies when utilizing their resources.

A previous SBA report titled “Are Male and Female Entrepreneurs Really That Different?” was the subject of my September 25, 2007 blog post I can do anything you can do better - or at least just as well! One of the highlights of that report was that “…when controlling for factors typically influencing entrepreneurial performance, gender does not affect new venture performance. However, several factors - differing expectations, reasons for starting a business, motivations, opportunities sought and types of businesses - vary between the genders, and these result in differing outcomes. In essence, men are not inherently better owners, they have different business goals.”

Male or female, when starting a new business the entrepreneur has to have realistic expectations in line with the business they are in. But why not keep our aims high - to be a high-impact business. A successful business requires planning, dedication and hard work. Knowing that achieving growth is a huge factor in our long-term success may be the extra incentive we need to work even harder at the day-to-day business, and planning for that growth may make a difference.
A copy of the report is located at: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs328tot.pdf and the research summarycan be found at: http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs328.pdf.

Tags:High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited, Office of Advocacy, Small Business Administration

Monday was an exciting day. I went to see Johannes Gaston for the presentation of initial design concepts for my product. I am delighted with the possibilities!

Keep in mind that this is only the beginning of the second phase in a 6-phase process:

1. Research
2. Concept
3. Design
4. Documentation
5. Sourcing
6. Follow-Through

Out of 8 concept drawings, I will decide which designs to enhance and refine. By August I will be ready to put them through a user feedback process. One-on-one feedback sessions and focus groups will help me get a better feel for general reaction to the designs. Additionally, because these concepts are drawings instead of 3-d models, Johannes said we will also be able to put them in a format where people can go online to give me feedback. That means that many of you who have been following my journey through this blog may be able to participate!

If you are interested in looking at these initial concepts and giving YOUR feedback, please leave a comment and I will contact you with details.

Please know that I may have to do some screening of on-line participants, but I hope to get a cross-section of opinion from males and females of all ages, so pass the word!

Tags:design concepts, Johannes Gaston, Miri Market, user feedback

Four topics were covered this morning at Session 1 of The Collaborative 2008 Summer Venture Camp.

• The Business Plan
• Getting Set up - For Today and the Future: Technology, Real Estate and Human Resources
• Capital Structure and Financing Your Business with Equity and Debt
• Entrepreneur and Investor Panel

Each segment was kept to a crisp 45 minutes and was presented by a panel, either in discussion format or alternate short presentations. The final panel on Entrepreneurs and Investors, moderated by Dan Carr of The Collaborative, was the definite highlight, with

• Jawed Karim, Founder, Youniversity Ventures; Co-Founder, YouTube
• Archie Black, CEO, SPS Commerce
• Paul Knapp, Managing Partner, Space Center Ventures

All three panelists were excellent, with Jawed Karim and Paul Knapp handing out the most practical and useful observations for entrepreneurs. Some of the main points Paul stressed for making your company investment-worthy were:

• Take the time and care to organize your board; over time increase the sophistication of your board.
• Hire people that are smarter than you! If you don’t have the knowledge and experience needed to get your company where it needs to be, find someone who does.
• Talk the talent into coming to work for you. A lot of talented, experienced, smart people are surprisingly willing to give up their salary and corporate life for a new challenge. It’s your job to get them excited to come work for you.
• There’s an investor for every deal. Start by going to people who understand what you’re doing, and talk to them about it. Don’t ask for money, but run your ideas by them; ask them questions: Does this make sense? If they get excited about what you’re doing, maybe they know someone for you to talk to. Or maybe they might become an investor.
• Be sure to communicate to everyone - your board, employees, investors - “it’s all going to change.” You need to continually be re-evaluating, remaking your company. Continually set up the expectation that things will be changing.
• The best way to approach him is by a referral from SOMEONE HE RESPECTS. Learn who are the black hats and white hats in town, and stick to the good ones. LEARN WHAT THE INVESTORS ARE INTERESTED IN, what they know about. If it is in your niche, send them an email with a 1-pg summary.

Jawed Karim described his new company, Youniversity Ventures, as wanting to be the kind of mentors he wishes he had had when starting out. Jawed stressed:

• Entrepreneurs need to be really flexible
• The saying, “Find a need and fill it” is true. When starting YouTube, they realized there was a need to share videos. At the same time, broadband was entering homes and becoming cheaper for hosting centers. They tried to copy the “Hot or not” site using videos, but the key was realizing what the public wanted to do with the videos. The same was true with PayPal. It was originally for mobile users, but it wasn’t taking off. So they tried it on the web, and on Ebay. Ebay took off. That was the need.
• Youniversity Ventures is focused on first-time entrepreneurs and student teams; people who have cool projects but don’t know what next step to take. They can focus on smaller amount needs, and almost become like co-founders. Youniversity helps work on everything from product design to investor presentation pitches, and can help them get to the bigger investors.
• In being approached, a prototype or demo is often helpful. Be clear: What is your idea? Who is on your team? Why is it a useful product?
• Investors often decide very, very quickly if they’re interested. They’re also looking for a certain personality: completely dedicated, openness to input; enthusiastic, but willing to learn, open to criticism, flexible, easy to work with.
• When asked about the difference between working with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, Illinois and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Jawed said that there’s a lot of “noise” and “fluff” in Silicon Valley - so much activity, but not that much innovation. Places a little farther removed from the hype might have less activity, but the activity that is there is stronger. He said it was refreshing to get away from the noise and see the innovation.
• In response to one questioner about protecting intellectual property when talking to investors, Jawed said that is a sign of being inexperienced and turns investors off. Investors don’t sign non-disclosure agreements; they’re in the business to HELP entrepreneurs. An example he used was asking what if all the ideas behind Google were laid out to a potential investor. Even if they’d tried to copy those ideas, they could never have done Google like Larry Page and Sergey Brin!

Archie Black also had some great comments to add to the discussion and Dan Carr kept the conversation going with input from each panelist. It was clear from the audience interest that the Q and A could have gone on longer. Not all of the panels were as relevant as this one, but altogether it was a good session for entrepreneurs. I’ll cover relevant information from Session 2 on July 17 and Session 3 on August 7.

Persistence has been on my mind lately.

You can look up many definitions of persistence, but here’s mine:

Persistence is the simple, unquestioning devotion to a purpose.

Simple. Unquestioning.

Persistence isn’t blind, doesn’t have to be maintained against great odds; the purpose can change or be abandoned. Persistence doesn’t necessarily have a “do or die” quality; it can be quiet and soft, like the persistence of water over time.

But persistence is the simple, unquestioning devotion to a purpose.

The author writes. There are many things that aren’t simple, like how to tie in a plot development, who will be interested in publishing the novel, but the need to write every day is simple.

The athlete trains. There is much to question, like how much strength will I have at the next contest, what equipment is best, but the desire to push the physical limits is unquestioning.

The farmer tills. The politician stumps. The inventor tests. The student studies. The teacher explains.

They all experience the simple, unquestioning devotion to their purpose.

What is your definition of persistence? What do you work towards every day, simple and unquestioning?

Tags:persistence

Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog summarizes a comprehensive list of blog headlines to use, put together by Copyblogger, 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work:

1. Who Else Wants [blank]?
2. The Secret of [blank]
3. Here is a Method That is Helping [blank] to [blank]
4. Little Known Ways to [blank]
5. Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
6. Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]
7. Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great circumstance]
8. [Do something] like [world-class example]
9. Have a [or] Build a [blank] You Can Be Proud Of
10. What Everybody Ought to Know About [blank]

Now, did you know that headlines is a topic worthy of controversy? It is! Read this rant from 2007 Who else wants to rehash trite, formulaic headlines? I guess Copyblogger has been coming up with these headlines for some time.

I must confess that I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel every time I write. And these are serviceable headlines. But they sound so generic, unfortunately like too many generic posts I read.

I’ve got an idea! How about using these headlines more creatively, giving your title a little more zing…like:

Who else wants the secret of the method that is helping little known ways to get rid of [pesky bloggers] once and for all?

Or do you like this one?

Here’s a quick way to have, do and build a [mousetrap] you can be proud of that everybody ought to know about!

Just having some headline fun, folks.

Tags:10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work, Add new tag, Business Opportunities Weblog, Copyblogger, generic headlines, Headline fun

Lately there has been so much great content on the blogs that I follow, I can hardly keep up. Among them yesterday, in Marketing Minute, Drew McLellan featured Seth Godin’s presentation at a TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design - conference. Be sure to take the time to watch the video; it’s about how “…ideas that spread, win.”

The speech is not new - I believe it was from April, 2007. You’ll find lots of references to the talk on google. But it is well worth watching and thinking about, even though it may be old news to some. Drew asks on his blog for people’s reactions, and this is mine:

I thought it was wonderful. My takeaways? Three.

1. “What you have to do is figure out what people really want, and give it to them.” Market to the people who will be really excited about what you have to offer, and they will help sell your product for you.

2. “Design is free when you get to scale. And the people who come up with stuff that is remarkable, more often than not, figure out how to put design to work for them.” Good design pays for itself, and helps define the “remarkable” quality Godin talks about.

3. NEVER, EVER again should anyone simply write out their talking points and slap them up on a slide while they talk! This video of Godin’s speech shows not only him speaking, but the slides he uses. Because I’m in the design phase of developing my product, I was especially interested in Godin’s above comment about design. To find again the spot in the video where he talked about it, I scrolled through the speech looking for the Target ‘target.’ They were linked in my mind - the visual and the idea. This was a MASTERFUL example of best use of power point slides to augment the ideas in a presentation.

Forbes.com says that Seth Godin “…is a demigod on the Web, a best-selling author, highly sought-after lecturer, successful entrepreneur, respected pundit and high-profile blogger. He is uniquely respected for his understanding of the Internet.” After watching his speech, you can see why. Go to Seth Godin’s website where you can check out his books and his blog. You may also want to visit TED online, where there are LOTS more inspiring talks and ideas.

Tags:Drew McLellan, ideas that spread win, Marketing Minute, Seth Godin, TED

Thank you for a VERY valuable blog post, Hill Library Blog! Titled How research can get retail through a recession, this post is filled with a wealth of information ammunition to get through these tough economic times. Among other information, it lists sites for:

• retail industry statistics
• economic trends
• consumer trends
• retail industry benchmarks

These are valuable sources for research and information. Being in the product development phase of my company, this was especially informative. I need all the research ammunition I can get for when my product goes on the retail market. Be sure to tell anyone you might know who is in retail to go to the Hill Library Blog for this research. If they’re smart, they’ll take advantage of it, for knowledge itself is power (Francis Bacon.)

Tags:Hill Library Blog, How research can get retail through a recession, retail information

I belong to the GetGo network in Minnesota, “A community by and for entrepreneurs, investors and those that support them.” They are offering discounted rates for 2008 Summer Venture Camp.

The Collaborative Summer Venture Camp returns in 2008, building on the highly valued and successful 2007 sessions, serving as both a primer and refresher for all interested in building Minnesota’s next generation of innovators. 3 mornings, 12 topics, 50 speakers. Our goal is to help fuel and inform the ‘next generation’ of innovators while also following The Collaborative trademark of providing information and networking to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

As a woman entrepreneur starting my own company, the topics that will be addressed are of great interest, including business planning, capital structure, financing a business with equity and debt, due dilligence, intellectual property and building a team. This three-morning series is being put on by The Collaborative, “…the largest membership organization in Minnesota serving growing and emerging companies, entrepreneurs, investors and executives.”

I realize that this is a local event, and many of you readers from around the country cannot take advantage of it. But look for events such as this in your home state. For, as Otto von Bismark replied when told that a wise man learns from experience…“No, a fool learns from experience. A wise man learns from the experience of others.”

Tags:2008 Summer Venture Camp, GetGo, The Collaborative, Woman entrepreneur